The God of Sorcery
by Leonsagara
Summary: FF7&FF8 crossover. After defeating Ultimecia, Squall falls victim to an unbreakable spell. Hyne, the god of sorcery, fearing what might happen if sorceresses continue to exist, comes out of hiding to reclaim his power.
1. Default Chapter

For the first time in her life, Ultimecia was afraid. She had conquered the world and defeated all who dared to stand in her way. And now, just as she was on the verge of becoming a god, Ultimecia knew, deep down, that she would die today. She looked at the six SeeDs who would be her destroyers. Her anger rose at the unfairness of it all, and Ultimecia decided that she, the most powerful sorceress of all time, would make them pay dearly for victory.  
  
Just as she came to that decision, the blonde SeeD rushed at Ultimecia, the whip in her hand unfurling and flying out straight for the sorceress's neck. Moving quickly, Ultimecia unleashed a Stop spell on the foolish girl, freezing her in place. The evil sorceress felt a momentary sensation of elation, which quickly disappeared as pain began shooting through her back. She fell to the ground from the force of the savage blows; her hands on the stones beneath her, supporting her body as the SeeD above her continued his assault. Desperate to survive, Ultimecia channeled a Break spell through the floor, instantly petrifying the fighter right next to her and spreading through the ground to entomb the nunchaku- wielding SeeD and the obvious leader of the group, who held a gunblade, in stone as well.  
  
Ultimecia rose from the floor, laughing. Only two little SeeDs left. In mid-laugh, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach as a bullet ripped through it. Another one followed soon behind, tearing a hole in her upper left arm. Focusing her energies, she used a powerful Blizzaga to imprison the gunman in ice. Ultimecia attempted to turn and finish off the last SeeD, but her wounds had fatally weakened her. Not wanting it to be over, she cast Curaga on herself, just so she could continue fighting. As she did that, however, the last Seed poured some strange liquid over the gunblade user's head, which returned his body to normal.  
  
The pair moved as one to face Ultimecia, who struggled to stand. Unfortunately, even the Curaga spell had not strengthened her enough to enable her to fight.  
  
For the first time since the battle started, one of the SeeDs spoke, "Rinoa, wait here. I'll finish her off," said the remaining male SeeD.  
  
"All right, Squall," Rinoa replied, then, growing fearful, continued, "Don't die."  
  
"Don't worry; I'm not going to let anything bad happen." With these words, Squall charged straight for Ultimecia as his gunblade, Lionheart, began to glow. When he was within range, he let loose with a swift flurry of blows from the blade. Lionheart moved faster than Ultimecia could follow, slicing her from every imaginable direction as the energy of the assault propelled her and the SeeD into the air.  
  
For a moment, Rinoa stood, watching as Ultimecia and Squall began to disappear into the distance. Then she remembered her other friends. Rushing over to Zell and Selphie, she used an Esuna to free them from their stone encasings. As soon as she was free, Selphie ran over to Irvine and used Fire to melt the ice around him. Zell, on the other hand, stood by Rinoa and watched as Quistis began moving when the affects of the Stop spell wore off.  
  
"Where's Squall?" Zell asked, once everyone was back to normal. In answer, Rinoa pointed into the sky above an adjacent tower where Squall and Ultimecia could be seen, just before they fall onto the tower's roof.  
  
Over on the other tower, Ultimecia lay still, her back broken, feeling her life drain slowly away. As she stared up at the SeeD who had defeated her, revenge was the only thought on her mind. Suddenly, the perfect vengeance came to her and she began chanting under her breath, too softly for Squall to hear.  
  
"Here stands the arrogant one  
who dared to challenge me.  
Punish this foolish SeeD  
for his vicious deed.  
Let him know no love,  
imprison him in stone  
until a thousand years are gone,  
and everything he held dear  
has been laid to waste."  
  
As she chanted, Squall raised his blade above her stomach and struck downward just as Ultimecia finished the spell. Instantly, Squall was petrified once again. Ultimecia took a look at his statue. She decided that he looked much better this way, cold and motionless. He was standing tall, bent over at the waist as he had moved to deal the last blow. His arms were outstretched before his body; his gunblade clasped, point downwards, in his stone fists. As she lay there, slowly dying, her thoughts turned to Hyne. She had come so close to obtaining his power, until this fool had interrupted her. Now Hyne had nothing to fear.  
  
"Indeed, my dear. However, I have decided that sorceresses are too much of a potential threat to be allowed to exist any longer. I am coming to reclaim my power soon," came what Ultimecia knew to be the voice of Hyne into her head. Her blood ran cold at what she had just heard. She would not, could not, allow him to win. She paused, wondering what she could possibly do. She looked at the statue of the SeeD once again. Then, it hit her. It was time to pass on the sorceress powers to a man for the first time. Inside the ensconced SeeD, they would go unnoticed until he awoke. She would just have to hope that he would be able to defeat Hyne then. With that last thought, Ultimecia passed on her powers to her foe and slipped away into eternity. 


	2. Rinoa's grief

The remaining five fighters waited atop the tower of Ultimecia's castle, each one watching the distant tower, each one waiting for the outcome. Then, the castle began to fade, it's ancient stone walls transmuting into white nothingness, taking Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, and Rinoa with it.  
  
"Let's get back to our time, everyone!" Quistis yelled, her feet pounding along the whiteness of empty space toward something only she could see.  
  
"Don't fall into a time warp." Selphie added, as she too ran off into the distance and disappeared.  
  
"Remember, we have to believe in each other to make it back." Irvine warned, chasing after Selphie into the stark white distance.  
  
"Think about where you want to go and who you want to be with." Zell said, jogging in place for a moment before fading away.  
  
Rinoa walked out into the white nothingness, her joy at victory overcoming her. 'I want to go there, where Squall and I promised.' She started running, her arms spread wide. Suddenly, she stopped and looked around.  
  
"Squall?" she whispered to herself, "Where are you?" Nobody answered and she too faded away. When she reappeared, Rinoa found herself standing in a wide open field of flowers. Daisies, violets, roses, petunias, tulips, painted a wonderful picture as far as she could see. The only other people within sight were her four friends. Squall was not there. Rinoa collapsed to the ground, her bittersweet tears drenching the flowers with her grief.  
  
"Rinoa. Rinoa! Rinoa!" Zell began yelling, trying to get her attention. "Look over there." At those words, she looked up, her face wet with fear and her brown hair hanging limp. Her face turned towards the direction Zell had indicated, and she saw a familiar figure. She jumped up and ran straight for him, brushing away her tears as she ran. As she neared the figure, it became clear that it was indeed Squall. Or, it had been Squall, but now it was his statue. Still, she smiled. Petrification was easy to cure.  
  
"Esuna!" Rinoa yelled, holding onto the thought that her spell was sure to return him to normal. A hope that faded away with the blue light of the spell when she saw that it hadn't worked. Still unwilling to give up, she pulled out another bottle of soft and threw it at Squall, the clear liquid running down his rock-hard body. The liquid trickled down the stone, leaving the statue intact, and slowly sank into the ground. Now Rinoa began to cry once again, her last hope shattered. The others came to stand beside, having observed her failed attempts to help Squall. Every one of them looked like they were about to break down as well. Quistis knelt down to help Rinoa, her face averted from the statue. Zell rent the air with his lightning-fast fists, wishing he had something to fight right now. Selphie and Irvine took comfort in each other's arms, their shared sorrow bringing them even closer than they had been.  
"It's time to go, Rinoa," Quistis said, yanking up on Rinoa's arm and pulling her up.  
  
"I don't want to leave. Squall needs me!" Rinoa protested, dragging her heels as Quistis tried to pull her along.  
  
"I don't intend to leave Squall here, Rinoa," Quistis said, growing exasperated, "Float!" A small feather appeared above Squall's head and his statue began to levitate a few inches above the ground.  
  
"Zell, will you bring him along?" Quistis asked the only other unoccupied SeeD. He nodded and moved around the Squall statue, pushing it toward the Ragnarok.  
  
"Selphie, Irvine, we're leaving!" Quistis called to the couple, who were still hugging each other fiercely. They reluctantly unlatched and moved toward the waiting spaceship as well. Quistis renewed her pull on Rinoa, slowly moving toward the bright red ship.  
  
Finally, they were all aboard. Selphie jumped into the pilot's seat, immediately perking up, and the spaceship began to ascend in a rush, propelling them high into the sky.  
  
"Where to, Quistis?" Selphie yelled back, not bothering to turn around.  
  
"Take us to FH, Selphie. We'll go back to Garden and make a report. From there, we can try to figure out what to do about Squall," Quistis said, gathering herself. She realized that she had to hold them together now that Squall was unable to do so. Selphie gave a quick nudge to the wheel and the Ragnarok turned and headed straight for FH. 


	3. The Report

Xu ran into the headmaster's new office, located in what had previously been Garden Master NORG's room.  
  
"Sir, Quistis is here to make a report."  
  
"Very well, send her in." Cid replied, wondering why Squall wasn't coming to do it. He decided that it was just like Squall to avoid any situation where extended talking was necessary and dismissed his worries with a laugh. At that moment, Quistis strode into the room, her whip bouncing gently against the side of her leg with every confident step.  
  
"Headmaster Cid, I am here to report on the mission to defeat Sorceress Ultimecia." Quistis said.  
  
"Is there really a need to report? I'm assuming that since you are here, she is dead." Cid replied, rubbing his head. He really disliked all these formalities, but knew it was part of his job.  
  
"Well, yes. However, it seems that it was not without cost." Quistis whispered, her voice faltering.  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"It's Squall, sir. We think she hit him with some kind of petrify spell, only it's not like anything we have seen before. All of the normal methods of curing petrification failed." Quistis said, blanching at the omnipresent thought that Squall might just be beyond help.  
  
"No... How could this have happened? I should have seen it coming." Cid said as he sank to the floor in frustration. "I shouldn't have let you go."  
  
"Sir, it's not your fault. There was nothing anyone could have done." Quistis said, kneeling next to Cid and attempting to comfort him. "You know that we had to stop her. I just didn't think she would have turned out to be so powerful."  
  
Suddenly, they heard a shout from nearby.  
  
"BOOYA!" Zell screamed, running into the room. "I've got an idea on how to get Squall back. We can take him to Doc Odine. He'll be able to do something for sure."  
  
Quistis and Cid looked at each other, similar thoughts running through their mind. I you know, that just might work./I  
  
"Excellent idea, Zell. Tell Selphie to prepare the Ragnarok. Then find Rinoa and Irvine and tell them to meet us there. I'll be along in a minute after I finish talking with Cid."  
  
"Sure thing, Quisty! Only, I don't think Rinoa is going to be up for it. She locked herself in her room right after we got back." Zell said, before running off.  
  
Author's note:  
  
Well, that was a short chapter. Thanks to all the people that took the time to read my story and submit a review. The next chapter will be the first glimpse at the FF7 side of things. 


	4. Soldier Project 20

A man wearing the white lab coat traditionally associated with scientists walks into a room. A room lined with bookshelves, all of them crammed full with books with such titles as The History of the Planet, Origins of the Ancients, and The Jenova Theory. Only one corner of the room is free from bookshelves, two tanks filled with some sort of fluid are there instead. And floating in the tanks are two people, a man in the tank to the left and a woman in the other. The man, judging by the cold light in his frosty blue eyes, has seen countless tragedies and survived them all. His build is that of a warrior who specializes in both strength and speed. To top it all off, his hair is yellow with numerous carefully styled spikes pointing more-or-less straight forward. A small plaque affixed to the tank identifies him only as Subject C.  
  
The woman in the other tank could only be described as beautiful. But it's not the kind of beautiful that gets in your face and screams for attention. No, her looks are soft, possessing a kind of subtle dignity and grace. Her lifeless green eyes once had a warm glow that could penetrate into your soul and somehow make you feel at peace with yourself. Her brown hair, once vibrant and full, now floats limply in the translucent fluid. Her skin, formerly rosy, is as pale as a corpse. Although that is only naturally, given that she is unmistakably dead. It is to her tank that the unknown scientist comes to, placing his hand lightly on her tank, tracing the figures on the plaque that make her known as Subject A. For a brief moment, a warm smile stretches across his face as he stares into her dull eyes. But only for a moment does it light up his countenance as he quickly turns away, clenching his fist, furious at himself for losing focus.  
  
The scientist walks away, exits the room via a hallway that is lined with even more bookshelves, and emerges into an adjoining room that is practically identical to the first one, minus the tanks. He walks over to a man who is bustling around the room and taps him lightly on the shoulder.  
  
"AH!" the man screams, throwing up his hands and dropping the book that he had been carrying.  
  
"Sorry, Dr. Vahn. I didn't mean to scare you," the nameless man chuckles.  
  
"Oh, it's only you, Professor Hyne. Don't sneak up on me like that. You almost gave me a heart attack, you know?"  
  
In reply, Hyne bends down to pick up the book off the floor. "Is this what I think it is?"  
  
"Oh, that? If you were thinking that it's one of Hojo's research journals, then yes."  
  
"I'm amazed you managed to find one. I thought all of his research was burned, given his condition. Maybe I should offer you a raise," the professor said, smirking.  
  
"Well, yes, it was quite difficult to find. But it has proved essential to our project here."  
  
"How so?" "Well, for one thing, it's easier to show you rather than tell you. Give me the book and go take a look at that microscope over there," Vahn replied, pointing to a small table to his right.  
  
"Okay," Professor Hyne shrugged, handed the book to his assistant and went to look into the microscope. "What is this?"  
  
"That is a cell taken from the Ancient. And this." Dr. Vahn said, flipping through the book, "is a picture of a Jenova cell, taken by Hojo himself."  
  
Hyne said nothing in reply but took the book and returned to the microscope, first looking into it again and then glancing at the picture in the book. His mouth formed a huge "O" of surprise as comprehension slowly hit him. "This is. These two are nothing alike!"  
  
"Exactly, this discovery proves that Hojo and Gast were wrong in their theory that Jenova is an Ancient."  
  
"But, what does this mean?"  
  
"Honestly, I don't know. I do intend to find however. Something tells me it could be essential to the success of our project."  
  
"Really? That's great news. Our project must not fail," Hyne said, still silently pondering the significance of this new development. Then he thought some more and finally decided to not worry so much. If anyone could figure it out, he knew that he and Dr. Vahn could. And once they finished their project, they would be unstoppable. "Just try to hurry. I have this horrible feeling that we're running out of time." 


End file.
